Feminine Demonstratives with Shaddah Rules
هذه مع أحكام الشدة
A deeper practice of هَذِهِ and تِلْكَ with more vocabulary, plus a focus on shaddah the doubling marker that intensifies a consonant and changes both sound and meaning.
New Feminine Vocabulary
The Shaddah ّ
Shaddah (ّ) doubles a consonant the letter is held twice as long. In the definite article, sun letters take a shaddah when الـ precedes them (the lām merges). The shaddah also appears in verb roots to mark Form II intensity: كَسَرَ (he broke) → كَسَّرَ (he shattered).
Listen carefully: الشَّجَرَةُ there is no "l" sound audible, and the "sh" is doubled: ash-SHA-jara. This is among the most important pronunciation features of Arabic.
Sample Dialogue
Pronunciation Focus
Practice the shaddah contrast: غُرْفَة vs الْغُرْفَة the ghayn (غ) is a moon letter, so the lām stays: al-ghurfa. Then: شَجَرَة vs الشَّجَرَة shīn is a sun letter, so the lām doubles the shīn: ash-shajara. Alternate between them until the distinction is automatic.
- Shaddah on sun letters after الـ: الشَّجَرَة = ash-shajara, not "al-shajara."
- Adjective agreement: نَظِيفَة (f clean) matches غُرْفَة (f room); نَظِيف (m clean) for masculine nouns.
- The pattern هَذِهِ/تِلْكَ + definite noun + adjective = complete descriptive sentence, no verb needed.
- كَيْفَ؟ (kayfa = how?) question for describing quality, answered with adjectives.
- صَغِيرَة (ṣaghīra = small, f) opposite of كَبِيرَة (kabīra = big, f). Learn antonyms together.